George Foulkes writes:
The Scottish National Party is more like a cult than a political party.
A recent poll showed that the majority of SNP members consider a criticism of the SNP as a personal criticism.
And any manifest failings of their government at Holyrood are set aside in pursuit of the cause of independence.
But it is all based on mythology.
Nicola Sturgeon used the word ‘progressive’ countless times in her speech at the launch of their manifesto, calling for a progressive alliance with other parties throughout the United Kingdom.
This is based on the assumption the SNP is progressive. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The second largest individual donor to the SNP is Stagecoach-owner Brian Souter.
Quite apart from his now legendary homophobic campaign on Section 28 he is against re-regulation of buses which was SNP policy until the money started rolling in from Souter.
Scotland is unique in that it has one main rail operator within our boundaries – Scotrail.
When the franchise came up for renewal there were calls from the rail unions and Labour to bring it into public ownership.
The SNP rejected these calls and put it out to tender.
Ironically it is now government-owned – by a Dutch government-owned company.
In the current session of the Scottish parliament the SNP has also rejected Labour’s proposal that no public contracts should be awarded to companies unless they pay the living wage.
This would have done a great deal for low-paid workers in the private sector but this progressive policy was rejected by the SNP.
They claim their policies on ‘free’ higher education, council tax freeze and ‘free’ prescriptions are progressive but the reality is that the beneficiaries are relatively well-off families.
In education they have slashed further education, which many poorer young people relied on for occupational courses, in order to end university fees for relatively well-off students, and they have reneged on their promise to cancel student debt.
The council tax freeze is proportionately more advantageous for people like me in the higher bands/
And the very poor, many of whom pay no council tax, are suffering from major cuts in social work and other vital services on which they depend but councils can no longer afford.
However, the most damning evidence of their lack of progressive policies was during the SNP minority administration in Holyrood from 2007 to 2011.
They collaborated totally with the Conservative group who ensured every one of their budgets was agreed, along with the Tory amendments.
I was a member of the Scottish Parliament at the time and I witnessed the way every progressive proposal put forward by Labour was rejected with SNP finance minister, John Swinney, and Tory leader, Annabel Goldie, working together like bosom buddies.
And, of course, Sturgeon and Alex Salmond were part of that cosy conservative consensus.
Just as I had seen, as a parliamentary candidate, in 1979 when the SNP MPs voted with Margaret Thatcher to bring down the Labour government and usher in 18 years of Tory rule, which devastated industry in Scotland and around the UK.
As Jim Callaghan wrote in his memoir Time and Chance, ‘The result was in effect decided when the Scottish National party decided to put down their own vote of censure. The Conservative party gratefully latched on to it …’
And the Conservative party are now gratefully latching on to the SNP once again.
The only way that David Cameron can be returned as prime minister is if the SNP take enough Labour seats in Scotland, and that is why we have seen Cameron talking up the SNP in the past few days.
But, as Michael Forsyth has rightly said, that is a very dangerous and unwise tactic which could see the break-up of the union.
We now have two weeks left to dispel the myth that the SNP is progressive and paint it in its true colours, in a phrase we used to use, as Tartan Tories.
The Scottish National Party is more like a cult than a political party.
A recent poll showed that the majority of SNP members consider a criticism of the SNP as a personal criticism.
And any manifest failings of their government at Holyrood are set aside in pursuit of the cause of independence.
But it is all based on mythology.
Nicola Sturgeon used the word ‘progressive’ countless times in her speech at the launch of their manifesto, calling for a progressive alliance with other parties throughout the United Kingdom.
This is based on the assumption the SNP is progressive. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The second largest individual donor to the SNP is Stagecoach-owner Brian Souter.
Quite apart from his now legendary homophobic campaign on Section 28 he is against re-regulation of buses which was SNP policy until the money started rolling in from Souter.
Scotland is unique in that it has one main rail operator within our boundaries – Scotrail.
When the franchise came up for renewal there were calls from the rail unions and Labour to bring it into public ownership.
The SNP rejected these calls and put it out to tender.
Ironically it is now government-owned – by a Dutch government-owned company.
In the current session of the Scottish parliament the SNP has also rejected Labour’s proposal that no public contracts should be awarded to companies unless they pay the living wage.
This would have done a great deal for low-paid workers in the private sector but this progressive policy was rejected by the SNP.
They claim their policies on ‘free’ higher education, council tax freeze and ‘free’ prescriptions are progressive but the reality is that the beneficiaries are relatively well-off families.
In education they have slashed further education, which many poorer young people relied on for occupational courses, in order to end university fees for relatively well-off students, and they have reneged on their promise to cancel student debt.
The council tax freeze is proportionately more advantageous for people like me in the higher bands/
And the very poor, many of whom pay no council tax, are suffering from major cuts in social work and other vital services on which they depend but councils can no longer afford.
However, the most damning evidence of their lack of progressive policies was during the SNP minority administration in Holyrood from 2007 to 2011.
They collaborated totally with the Conservative group who ensured every one of their budgets was agreed, along with the Tory amendments.
I was a member of the Scottish Parliament at the time and I witnessed the way every progressive proposal put forward by Labour was rejected with SNP finance minister, John Swinney, and Tory leader, Annabel Goldie, working together like bosom buddies.
And, of course, Sturgeon and Alex Salmond were part of that cosy conservative consensus.
Just as I had seen, as a parliamentary candidate, in 1979 when the SNP MPs voted with Margaret Thatcher to bring down the Labour government and usher in 18 years of Tory rule, which devastated industry in Scotland and around the UK.
As Jim Callaghan wrote in his memoir Time and Chance, ‘The result was in effect decided when the Scottish National party decided to put down their own vote of censure. The Conservative party gratefully latched on to it …’
And the Conservative party are now gratefully latching on to the SNP once again.
The only way that David Cameron can be returned as prime minister is if the SNP take enough Labour seats in Scotland, and that is why we have seen Cameron talking up the SNP in the past few days.
But, as Michael Forsyth has rightly said, that is a very dangerous and unwise tactic which could see the break-up of the union.
We now have two weeks left to dispel the myth that the SNP is progressive and paint it in its true colours, in a phrase we used to use, as Tartan Tories.
No comments:
Post a Comment